Top notch Persian fix at Abshar, Croydon

I love Persian food because they have all these colourful and tasty rices I thought, then the more I tried, I literally fell in love with everything especially the stews. 

Persian cuisine is right up my alley because the use of dill, barberries, and dried limes in the dishes.

My first Persian meal was probably at Simurgh, Covent Gardens where they did a trio of rices and this salted fish stew.

During lockdown, this supermarket happened to stock restaurant quality Persian ready meals so I bought almost everything in the range and got a good experience from it.

Recently, I dined at Abshar where they serve amazing food especially the broad bean and dill rice with Ghormeh sabzi, a lamb stew with fenugreek and dried lime.

As well as that, the macaroni was beautiful and the portion was huge, again a popular dish found in many Persian restaurants.

The guys know their stuff and knew the ready meal brand I tried which used to be a restaurant in Fulham.

Also got the doogh drink which was an unsuspectingly seriously delicious savoury Persian yoghurt doogh drink which I didn't order earlier because the menu wasn't that descriptive.

I felt that it was nicer than ayran because it was fizzy and not thick yet laced with herbs.

Will be back.

#ssgcronx

A taste of Yunnan at YUN Cross Bridge Rice Noodles 云过桥米线 , Brick Lane

There are not many places for Yunnan cuisine hence I was glad to come across this restaurant so I made a few visits to get a fair idea of what the food is like.

The Classic Yunnan style beancurd noodles from Kunming is probably the famous dish that most people would know about.

Lesser known is the Rushan Cheese which is milk curd pulled/stretched which is then grilled/fried and served with sweet things like chocolate, rose jam etc.

Unfortunately, you can't get Rushan here so they have substituted it with halloumi which was interesting as it was served with sugar.

Other dishes I discovered were three red chops, Grandma's mashed potato, ghost chicken, split pea porridge noodles and ham & potato rice.

Yunnan ham and potato rice!

To be honest, it could have been much nicer if they used proper Yunnan ham instead of the bacon they used.

I wasn't keen as it is nothing like English back bacon but the potato cubes were seriously good as it was soft and sticky.

Yunnan split pea porridge noodle.

This was an interesting noodle which I felt was comforting because I can relate it to English pease pudding.

It is surprisingly, they have a pea puree which they put on top of the noodles and drink as a porridge.

Again, another tasty noodle with the pickles, fresh chives and tasty mince when you mix it together.

Yunnan Split pea pudding!

Just some starchy stuff!

Dali Fried halloumi with sugar inspired by Yunnan Rushan Cheese!

I thought the restaurant was going serve the real deal but it turns out that they just used Halloumi and coated it with sugar!

Rushan cheese is milk curd pulled/stretched which is then grilled/fried and served with sweet things like chocolate, rose jam etc.

Yunnan Ghost duck salad.

[That was the name, I don't know why] however after googling it turns out they have this ghost chicken dish where they use silkie chickens where the meat is black to ward of ghosts.

However at the restaurant, there was an option of chicken or duck so I chose duck which is more flavourful and it turned out to be a refreshing salad.

Think of it like a Thai salad with coriander, cucumber, carrots, cherry tomatoes drenched in lime and Sichuan peppercorn.

Absolutely addictive and moreish!

Classic Yunnan style beancurd noodles.

These are best I have tasted especially when you mix it together.

The flavours come from the mince with salty yellow beans, pickles and then you get the spices from the Sichuan peppercorn chilli oil dressing and chives.

Simply delicious.

Yunnan noodles with three red chops and Grandma's mashed potato!

Again this is new to me because there are not many Yunnan restaurants so I ordered this so I could try the famous three red chops and Grandma's mashed potato.

Interestingly, they were both relatable to Western food so it was comforting.

I was surprised to find mashed potato on the menu because people in Asia just don't like potatoes.

The three red chops is basically like a simple bolognese base with chilli.

The mashed potato was interesting because it had dill another unusual ingredient that you rarely see in Asian dishes.

It was nice but I was expecting more depth and flavour in the mash from the gherkins, dill and a peppery kick according to the recipe. So that sense it was similar to Eastern European dishes but lacked the flavour.

Yunnan Ghost duck salad:

Yunnan ham and potato rice!

Yunnan noodles with three red chops and Grandma's mashed potato!

Classic Yunnan style beancurd noodles.

Dali Fried halloumi with sugar inspired by Yunnan Rushan Cheese!

Yunnan Split pea pudding!

Yunnan split pea porridge noodles:

Menu:

Yun Cross Bridge Noodles:

Brick Lane

Nandos Fino Pitta

Described as toasted pitta with two flame-grilled PERi-PERi chicken thighs, grilled halloumi cheese, caramelised red onion relish, creamy wild garlic aioli and lettuce.
Unfortunately, my pitta was a bit too dry that it had already broken before it reached me.
The chicken was hard and dry even though it was thigh meat so the only thing decent was the halloumi.
Luckily the sauces were able to save the day but you literally have to pour a good amount to do any good!

Zen musubi

Spam musubi, a popular snack in Hawaii of Japanese origin.
It is so popular that you can find spam on the menu at Mcdonalds for breakfast.
Spam musubi is basically a piece spam on rice with mayonnaise or whatever sauce they use wrapped in seaweed.
Overall, the spam was really tasty and not salty but the rice didn't quite hold together and it tasted like coarse and chunky Chinese rice lacking the stickiness and firmness.
Japanese rice is short and fat a bit like paella rice.

LOH Japandi Kitchen a Japanese and Scandinavian marriage

Who doesn't love sushi and Japanese curry but these days it can get boring because it is everywhere.

Enter LOH Japandi Kitchen which is the marriage of Japanese and Scandinavian cuisine!

This simply couldn't have been a no brainer as both cuisines have salmon.

I've had my fair share of sushi so the LOH Japandi concept was totally my thing, expect to find meatballs as well as tempura with Japanese style fruity curry sauce as well as sashimi with dill and other dressings.

Their drinks cabinet is another stunning winner with clear plastic cans filled with sparkling fruit juices.

I ended up trying the drinks first because they were the most impressive.

The sparkling grapefruit with thyme was simply refreshing and thirst quenching, you can really taste the grapefruit in it.

Delicious breakfast at Joe's Cafe, Chertsey

Visited Joe's Cafe for breakfast because the decor was nice and they did not disappoint because the food delivered which explains why they have so many postcards sent back from visitors.

On a brief visit to Chertsey, I felt that there were not many dine in cafes as they were mainly takeaways so this is definitely a winner for Joe's.

The menu at Joe's had the usual breakfast suspects but interestingly it didn't have black pudding which you can order if needed.

I had the small breakfast which came with tea and buttered toast with extra black pudding.

It came on a clean white plate, no oil to be seen and the tinned tomatoes were intact and the plate was clean surrounding it with no traces of tomato juice etc.

Anyway, everything on the plate was 10/10, the toast was buttered nicely and you can taste the saltiness from the butter.

The bacon was trimmed, egg was fried nicely so were the sausage and black pudding.

Last but not least the tinned tomato was just right, not too soft or soggy with a meaty chewy bursting with seeds in the middle.